Founded in 1991, the Republican Liberty Caucus works to advance the principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty within the Republican Party.

Despite the fact that over 70 Representatives were not present in Congress to vote, December 21 was a terrible day for advocates of individual liberty and limited government.

First, the Federal Communications Commission’s 3 Democrat majority voted to approve proposed rules that amount to a hostile takeover of the Internet by a government agency. The proposal — misleadingly described by proponents as an attempt to insure “net neutrality” by guaranteeing equal access to the Internet — was introduced a year ago by Obama’s appointed FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

A federal court has ruled that the commission has no authority to regulate the Internet, and a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives warned Genechowski not to attempt to impose a regulatory regime on the Internet earlier this year. The FCC, an unelected bureaucracy, still has not released the full text of its net neutrality rules yet.

You better believe that this unconstitutional power grab to secure “net neutrality” by the FCC is just a small sign of whats to come in the realm of federal regulation of private citizen behavior.

And, on that note, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate both passed the so-called Food Safety and Modernization Act — the largest government power grab as it relates to food since 1938 (when Congress gave the FDA the authority to oversee the safety of food, drugs and cosmetics).

But, have no fear, it will only cost $1.4 billion to implement the new “safety” regulations.

The law will give the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the FDA tremendous control over the U.S. food supply. It also puts all food and all U.S. farms under Homeland Security and the Department of Defense in the event of contamination or an ill-defined emergency. The bill includes NAIS, an animal traceability program that threatens all small farmers and ranchers raising animals. And it will allow the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs.

Not only did 74 members of Congress fail to vote on the measure, but the bill also passed the Senate without a single dissenter. Fortunately, the new Congress will be in session soon, where I have no doubt there would have been someone with the courage to hold up this anti-liberty legislation.